2006 GOP sweep victims plot return

Four years after getting swept out of office by a Democratic tide, nearly one-third of the 21 GOP House members who lost reelection bids in 2006 are plotting their 2010 comebacks.

Some of them are running for their old seats. Others are looking at higher office. The common denominator is that the current environment has spurred them to re-enter the political fray after their careers were abruptly cut short.

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“Every politician wants to run during a high tide for his or her party. Republicans have reason to believe that 2010 will be a high tide for them, certainly compared to the disastrous low tides in 2006 and 2008,” said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist. “We’re not near November yet, but 2010 certainly looks to be a GOP year. It’s a good time for redemption if you’re a Republican.”

Former Republican congressmen including Richard Pombo of California, Mike Sodrel of Indiana, Mike Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Charlie Bass of New Hampshire have either launched campaigns to return to the House or are seriously considering it. Meanwhile, Rob Simmons of Connecticut and John Hostettler of Indiana are running for the Senate, while J.D. Hayworth of Arizona is mulling over a primary challenge to Arizona Sen. John McCain.

“The last time Republicans had wind to their back was ’04,” said former New York Rep. Tom Reynolds, who chaired the National Republican Congressional Committee during the GOP’s disastrous 2006 cycle. “Some of the public officials who lose a close race in a bad year have a longing to come back to the public arena to run for office again.”

“They see this as a good year, and you can’t win if you’re not running,” said Reynolds.

Simmons argued that the bottom fell out for Republicans in the Northeast in 2006 — and that the 2010 landscape is shaping up far more favorably for the party when it comes to unaligned voters.

“The so-called Republican brand fell out of power in New England, and independents cut for the Democrats,” said Simmons.

“When I ran in 2006, the generic vote in Connecticut was against Republicans 20 percent,” said Simmons, who lost the seat he had held for three terms to Democrat Joe Courtney. “We’re back.”

Bass, a six-term congressman who had a penchant for bucking his party’s establishment, said he was concerned about what he described as the heavy-spending ways of the Democratic majority.

“A lot of the people who voted for Barack Obama and the Democrats see the deficits, the spending, and they’re appalled,” said Bass, who told POLITICO that he would make a decision in the coming months on whether to enter the race for his old seat. “I think they are frightening America.”